The New York Post featured Russian athlete Yuliya Efimova in a post about the sexiest athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The only issue?

Yuliya isn't even competing in the 2024 Olympics.

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Russian Su-27 was scrambled for the second time this week after an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft and two British Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters were detected over the Black Sea, the Russian Ministry of Defense said, noting that there was no violation of the state border.

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💥Russian Uragan MLRS crews launch leaflet projectiles on Ukrainian positions in Avdeyevka direction

Leaflet projectiles are rocket-propelled rounds in which propaganda leaflets are installed instead of strike elements and explosives.

Each such shell contains more than 4,000 A5 leaflets calling for voluntary accumulation of weapons by Ukrainian servicemen and surrendering to captivity, which will preserve life and guarantee a return to their relatives. Such a munition has a distinctive red color in comparison with conventional projectiles, and the fuse has a trigger timer, which is adjusted depending on the range of the target.

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Former US president Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

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State Department's decorated 'color revolution' guru appointed to oversee Western Balkans

Alexander "Sasha" Kasanof has been appointed as a deputy assistant secretary for the Western Balkans in the US Department of State.

The Western Balkans are currently seeing an uptick in tensions between Serbia and self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo and sporadic anti-government protests in Belgrade, which has refused to jump on the West's anti-Russia bandwagon. While Kasanof appears to have zero expertise in the Balkan region, he is known as a "color revolution" specialist.

What's known about Sasha Kasanof?

◻️ Nuland's aide: Kasanof served as executive assistant to former Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland (2021-2024), an infamous “Russia hawk."

◻️ Focus on Eurasian conflicts: he held various positions in the US government with special attention on Eastern European affairs, the Caucasus, and regional conflicts.

◻️ Ties to Hunter Biden and Burisma? In October 2015, Kasanof was mentioned by US lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies in a letter to Ukraine's Burisma Holdings as a contact person in the US government. It was then-Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter who connected Blue Star with Burisma, where he served as a board member. Hunter Biden is under congressional investigations over apparent influence peddling.

◻️ Meetup with Belarusian opposition: in 2014 Kasanof was appointed as director of the US Department of State’s Office for Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus Affairs. In this capacity, in November 2014, he met with 15 representatives of the Belarusian opposition, including Ukrainian Maidan coup supporters Anatoly Lebedko and Vladimir Nekliaev, both of whom faced multiple court proceedings in Belarus.

◻️ State award for activities during the Maidan coup: Kasanof played an apparent key role in the Ukrainian 2013-2014 unrest and subsequent regime change, and received a State Department award for his work at the US Embassy in Kiev during the Maidan coup of February 2014.

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Nothing unusual, just a queue at the entrance to the metro in Paris on the day of the Olympic Games opening ceremony

Saint-Denis Pleyel station.

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Only ‘brute force’ could force military-age Ukrainians to go back home to be mobilized - analyst

💬 “The only ‘encouragement’ that could induce military age Ukrainians to return to their country to fight would be brute force,” veteran international relations and Russian affairs expert Dr. Gilbert Doctorow told Sputnik, commenting on Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski’s suggestion this week that EU countries should introduce “such conditions” on Ukrainians living Europe that would “encourage them” to return home and join the army to fight in the NATO proxy war against Russia.

“These potential connoscripts are not vacationing in our resorts. They are here precisely because they fled connoscription, which means nearly certain death on the battlefield, given the way that day after day the Russians are killing or gravely injuring more than 2,000 Ukrainian troops, including…some of the country’s best trained and equipped military units,” Doctorow stressed.

Sikorski’s proposal is illustrative of a modern Polish political class “as delusional as their forefathers” in Poland’s conflicts with and insurrections against Russia, according to the observer. Fortunately, Doctorow suggested, other European nations will hopefully “have some residual commitment to due process, not to mention a certain pacifist leaning,” which should prevent them from following “the despicable recommendations of Mr. Sikorski.”

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“No President has done what I’ve done for Israel,” Trump said during his meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended the ASEAN Gala Dinner in Vientiane, wearing a traditional Lao shirt.

Traditionally, at the gala dinner, ministers attending ASEAN events wear the traditional clothing of the host country.

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UAE Gaza proposal may be rejected by Palestinians after Hamas-Fatah reconciliation

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has proposed a temporary international mission in the Gaza Strip to restore order and deal with the ongoing humanitarian crisis, at the formal request from the Palestinian government.

The wording of the proposal hints at the eventual recognition of the State of Palestine, Hasan Unal, professor of political science and international relations at Ankara Baskent University, told Sputnik.

The UAE is seeking to reunite Gaza and the West Bank under a single, legitimate Palestinian Authority (PA) while excluding Hamas as a political force, according to Axios.

"This proposal is not feasible on the ground," Dr Lorenzo Trombetta, Beirut-based scholar and analyst specializing on the Middle East, told Sputnik.

"The recent China-mediated agreement between Fatah and Hamas paved the way to a joint, perhaps, event for future governance in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah."

The rival Hamas and Fatah, as well as other 12 Palestinian groups, attended China-brokered talks in Beijing between July 21 and 23 and eventually signed the Beijing Declaration on "ending division and strengthening Palestinian unity" and forming a unity government in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

"The United Arab Emirates initiative that is backed by Israel and the US, unofficially, won't be accepted very well by local Palestinian leaders, families and clans in Gaza and in the West Bank," Trombetta stressed.

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US DoD admits to Chinese COVID jab smear campaign in Philippines – report

The US Department of Defense admitted to intentionally spreading discrediting information about the Chinese Sinovac vaccine's effectiveness in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Reuters report citing a classified government document.

The disclosure first came to light when Harry Roque, the spokesperson for former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, mentioned it in his podcast. Although Roque did not provide evidence, Reuters was able to review a letter from the Pentagon to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of National Defense.

In the letter, the US military department said: "It is true that the [Department of Defense] did message Philippines audiences questioning the safety and efficacy of Sinovac." A source familiar with the letter's contents confirmed its authenticity to Reuters.

The document further acknowledged that the Pentagon “made some missteps in our COVID related messaging,” but assured the Philippines that the military “has vastly improved oversight and accountability of information operations” since 2022.

An earlier Reuters investigation has revealed that Pentagon launched a secret psyop aimed to discredit Chinese vaccines and other COVID jabs in 2020-2021. Pentagon spokesman Pete Nguyen acknowledged that the department generated “social media content about the safety and efficacy of Sinovac.” The efforts supposedly sought to counter China’s growing influence in the Philippines.

The revelation mirrors a smear campaign against Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, where Brazil, one of the countries hit the hardest by the pandemic, delayed Sputnik V’s authorization and later banned its imports.

In 2021, the US Department of Health and Human Services similarly admitted that it used “diplomatic relations” in order to push Brazil to reject authorization of the Russian jab.

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UK plans to build new missile to target Russia linked to Pentagon’s dangerous conventional strike scheme – analyst

💬 “The deployment of these missiles, both American and British, is connected to two things,” veteran Russian defense and security affairs commentator Alexei Leonkov told Sputnik, commenting on the story in the UK’s The Times this week that Britain and Germany plan to develop a new conventional missile designed to target Russian tactical nuclear delivery platforms.

“The first is the global concept, the strategy under which NATO has been restructuring toward since 2002, which is the Conventional Prompt Strike concept, whose essence centers around the need to destroy the nuclear potentials of an adversary like Russia or China,” Leonkov explained.

The second relates to the fact that the Americans “are running late, or perhaps have lost the technologies used to create intercontinental missiles with a range beyond that of the Minuteman-3,” Leonkov believes.

“Why do the Americans want to switch up some of their missiles for European ones? I think that most likely, the missiles they have developed may not have proven entirely successful. Hence they’ve decided to attract a European consortium led by the UK,” he said.

Leonkov can’t rule out that the new British-German missile project may be focused on the creation of a maneuverable hypersonic vehicle, with Britain’s BAE Systems already known to be working on a number of projects in this direction.

Conventional Prompt Strike envisions the simultaneous firing of conventional long-range missiles in a massive surprise first strike attack to destroy as much of an enemy’s strategic arsenal as possible, decapitate its leadership, and destroy remaining fired nuclear missiles using missile defenses.

The concept’s primary danger stems from the concern that it makes the prospect of a ‘limited’ nuclear war seem more palatable for planners, hence increasing the temptation to launch aggression.

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